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NMUSD Students Continue Growth in Statewide Assessment

Students in Newport-Mesa Unified School District (NMUSD) continue to show growth in the statewide English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics standards. Students in grades three through eight and grade 11 take the statewide Smarter Balanced Assessments.

NMUSD students remain above Orange County and California averages overall in both ELA and mathematics.

The Smarter Balanced Assessments are computer adaptive tests that adjust the difficulty of the test items based on how a test taker responds. This provides a more precise measure of student performance.

The Smarter Balanced Assessments, now in their fourth year, show an increase of nearly six percentage points in NMUSD students having met or exceeded ELA standards, and an increase of five percentage points in students having met or exceeded math standards, when compared to the 2015 baseline assessments.

From 2017 to 2018 all elementary grades experienced growth in ELA with third, fourth, and seventh grades showing the most significant growth. Specifically, third grade demonstrated double-digit growth from 2015 baseline in both ELA and math, which is a strong reflection of NMUSD’s focused efforts in the primary grades.

English Learners in grades three through six showed four percentage point growth in English Language Arts from 2017 to 2018, which is encouraging as NMUSD schools are increasing focus on English Language Development.

Statewide Assessment Highlights:

11 schools show double digit growth in ELA

Adams Elementary

California Elementary

College Park Elementary

Ensign Intermediate

Killybrooke Elementary

Newport Heights Elementary

Paularino Elementary

Pomona Elementary

Rea Elementary

Sonora Elementary

Whittier Elementary

8 schools show double digit growth in mathematics

Adams Elementary

Eastbluff Elementary

Ensign Intermediate

Kaiser Elementary

Killybrooke Elementary

Newport Heights Elementary

Paularino Elementary

Sonora Elementary

6 schools show double digit growth in both ELA and mathematics

Adams Elementary

Ensign Intermediate

Killybrooke Elementary

Newport Heights Elementary

Paularino Elementary

Sonora Elementary

Our district continues to focus on providing classroom intervention systems to support differentiation of instruction. Intervention staff were added to better allow teachers to provide targeted support to struggling students and additional enrichment opportunities for high achieving students.

In the 2017 to 2018 school year, new ELA instructional materials for transitional kindergarten (TK) through sixth grade, and new mathematics instructional materials for TK through fifth grade were adopted. This transition was supported with ongoing professional development for instructional staff to better support students.

“While we are never satisfied until all students meet proficiency standards, we are pleased to see continuous growth overall, particularly in the first year of implementation of two new adoptions at the elementary level,” said Deputy Superintendent Russell Lee-Sung.

“Our focus on foundational skills, interventions, and building a cohesive instructional program from TK to 12th grade will continue to be at the forefront of our collective efforts to support the success of each student,” said Lee-Sung.

Individual student 2018 score reports were mailed to parents in late July 2018. The NMUSD Smarter Balanced testing window for 2019 is March 18 – June 14, 2019.

While statewide assessments provide valuable information about overall student progress and areas for improvement, they do not provide a holistic view of student achievement. The California School Dashboard provides a more detailed view of performance, based on multiple factors, beyond state testing results. These factors include graduation rates, suspension rates, chronic absenteeism and college and career readiness, as well as local indicators such as implementation of academic standards, parent engagement and the local climate survey.